EMC-Pure Storage patent sueball circus sent back to square one

Old Sun Microsystems patent prompts judge to order retrial

EMC's $14m patent award against Pure Storage has been set aside by a judge who has ordered a new trial.

The judge in the Delaware District federal court case ruled that the jury didn't consider the notion that EMC's patent, number 7,434,015 dealing with deduplication, is invalid due to an earlier patent issued to Sun Microsystems.

Pure says the judge ruled that the Sun patent includes most aspects of the invention claimed in the '015 patent, leaving only one element for the jury to address in a retrial.

In this retrial Pure will, of course, assert that the '015 patent is invalid and it's not infringing anything.

The court ruling means that, logically, Pure has not (yet?) infringed a valid patent. An EMC request for a permanent injunction, on the basis of valid patent infringement, against Pure has been refused. There is no date for the retrial yet. This one has a way to run yet. ®